Lighting as Sculpture: Installations by a California Artist

San Francisco native Noam Rappaport's lighting installations illuminate negative spaces.

The recent Los Angeles transplant inherited his keen sense of materiality from his mother and father, who were both artists, and his grandfather, a self-taught architect who designed and built houses in Sweden. One dwelling in particular, says Rappaport, "is like a handmade version of midcentury architecture," with interior walls built from refurbished doors. "I'm interested in the simple and pragmatic use of the materials at hand," says the artist, whose work examines such themes as recycle and reuse, negative space, and "doodles." His austere lighting sculptures—made from repurposed canvas-stretcher bars, ordinary electrical chord, and, of course, light bulbs—are defined both by the space they impact and by their humble fabrication. "The fixtures are a way of making simple drawings in space," he says.

Above: Installation at Noam Rappaport's 2010 solo exhibition at the White Columns art space in the Manhattan's Meatpacking District. Contact the James Fuentes Gallery for pricing.

Above: Rappaport's wall-mounted designs also feature wood stretcher bars, light bulbs, and electrical wire. Contact the James Fuentes Gallery for pricing.

Above L: Light Sculpture. Above R: Untitled No. 5.